Embezzler receives probation

CENTRAL FLORIDA - The Area - In Brief

July 12, 2005

SANFORD -- A woman who ran a nonprofit company that provided housing to low-income families pleaded no contest Monday to embezzling $65,000 from Seminole County.

Candace Birle, 57, of Lake Mary was sentenced to three years' probation. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. also banned her from taking jobs where she would work with cash or be a treasurer or bookkeeper.

Her company, Wyman Fields Foundation Inc., was developing The Hamlet, a subdivision of subsidized housing near Sanford, in 2000 when the money disappeared.

According to court records, Birle submitted phony checks to the county for reimbursement, then kept the money.